Equity and per capita entitlement has to be the basis for fair climate deal says UK Climate minister

Durban, December 6: Speaking at the side of a press briefing organised by UNEP, Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change said that equity and per capita entitlement has to be ultimately the basis for a fair climate treaty.

The world will have to converge at the same per capita emissions, he said. On Government of India’s (GOI) demand that equity and sustainable access to carbon space should be reinserted in the agenda for discussion on climate change, he stated that UK government was in support of this position. But he added that as far as the Indian government’s agenda on unilateral trade measures was concerned, the UK government believed that trade issues should not be discussed at UNFCCC, but instead the appropriate forum was WTO.

He also stated that China’s per capita emissions are now higher than many Annex 1 countries and that in a new global deal countries like China must start reducing its emissions.